City go top of the league, at least for a couple of hours, and they probably deserved it: their performance in the first 20 minutes was excellent. They pushed Saints back, got high and wide, and De Bruyne, Sterling and Kolarov were hugely influential. Saints started abysmally, but then decided to play, scored a good goal, and were a bit unlucky with a non-handball call at 2-2: Fernandinho handled in the area but it wasn’t seen by Roger East.
Slightly nervy in the second half from City, but they scored a good third goal, and held on. Plus David Silva is back, and that should make everyone feel better. Thanks for reading – goodbye.
90 min: Tadic’s ball in, but Saints are offside. They’re slightly unlucky to be down by two goals here, Southampton: this second-half performance has been good.
89 min: Oh, what a chance for Bony! Fantastic play between De Bruyne and Toure, and De Bruyne’s low cross is perfect for Bony, but he squirts it over from 12 yards! Actually, the flag was up for offside, although Bony didn’t know.
87 min: Ooh, Saints are upset, and rightly: Mane was away there, but Roger East called it back after Demichelis had fouled Long. It was a foul, but he should have played the advantage.
84 min: Yeah, Mane ought to have passed just then: Long and Tadic were screaming for it, and they were completely free. That was the wrong decision from the Senegalese.
82 min: It’s really open now, and Saints suddenly have a four-on-two situation! Mane uses Tadic by not using him, and shoots for goal, but Caballero is down to push it behind. Good effort, but they might have made more of that.
79 min: So now Saints have two strikers on the field. They may as well commit men forward now. But here come City, and Kolarov finds Touré, who is fouled by Davis 25 yards out.
76 min: Saints aren’t out of this, but that third goal has taken the wind out of their sails somewhat. City had monopolised possession since Kolarov’s strike.
70 min: Kolarov gets the goal, but it was all thanks to De Bruyne. He streaked clear, found Sterling on the left, and Kolarov made a great overlap to create space inside. Sterling found Bony, who flicked it to De Bruyne, and De Bruyne clipped a lovely ball out wide to Kolarov, in space after the Saints defence had been dragged inside, and the Serb smashed one low past Stekelenburg from a difficult angle. Great shot, but lovely work from the Belgian to start it all.
67 min: Tadic lets fly and Caballero is down well to save! Saints fancy this. Just looking back at that Fernandinho handball: he definitely got away with one there. I mean, Davis did too, in the first half, so I guess it evens out, but that should have been a penalty.
63 min: Oh, what a chance for Saints! Tadic, on as a half-time sub for Romeu, danced through the defence as City stood and watched, and he was one on one v Caballero, but he tried to dink it over the keeper, and Caballero stood up and saved! Then Long had a blast from the rebound, and Fernandinho looked guilty as it seemed to strike his hand! No call from the ref, but that looked like a handball.
61 min: Great play from Otamendi, who won it in midfield and found a lovely straight pass to release Sterling, all alone against Caulker, but the Saints man keeps his eye on it and takes it off Sterling’s toe.
53 min: Fernandinho with a wild lunge on Mane – serving up memories of hatchet job his on James Rodriguez in last year’s World Cup quarter-final. Free kick to Saints, and Davis curls it in, but that’s handball, and City can clear.
I just wonder whether Caballero could have come for that cross. He started to, and the stayed on his line, and couldn’t react in time once Long had won the header.
50 min: City gave away a soft free kick, and Saints took it short as Sterling dozed. Mane accepted the pass, crossed beautifully under no pressure, and Long rose high to nod past Caballero. Great cross from Mane, but a lack of focus from City. Game on!
49 min: David Silva is warming up in an orange bib, and gets a warm round of applause from the City fans.
Danny Higginbotham on commentary is effusive in his praise of Silva: “He’s magnificent. Absolutely outstanding. He’s unbelievable. One of the greatest players to have graced the Premier League. No question.”
47 min: Sterling outmuscled Yoshida, raced down the left, and found Delph, who had made a good run into the area, but Delph’s touch just let him down, and Saints win it back.
46 min: Hey Jude has finished playing on the public address system, and we’re back. Shouldn’t City be playing something a bit more Mancunian? Oasis? The Smiths? Frank Sidebottom?
Just watching the first City goal again, Yoshida made a bad error in being tackled, but Jose Fonte’s part in it wasn’t much better: he just allowed Sterling to run and run, opting, for some reason, not to go across to tackle. Very disappointing.
45 min + 2: Sagna took a whack fro Van Dijk, and he has a bloody head. And Van Dijk is bleeding, too, around his left eye. He’s being wrapped in a bandage, but that looks pretty nasty.
45 min: Saints cough it up in midfield, and Yaya Touré trundles clear in meaty fashion, defenders bouncing off him as he careens into the box, but his touch lets him down and it’s through to Stekelenburg. He had options, but his control was uncharacteristically sloppy.
41 min: Long escapes through the inside-right channel, and shoots for goal from Davis’s neat pass, but it was a tough angle, and Caballero was in position to beat it away.
40 min: Demichelis is grumbling about something to Shane Long: cue much wild gesticulating. Saints with the corner, but again City do well to head clear. Saints have definitely steadied themselves, but they’re on the edge: another goal for City and it’s game over.
39 min: Corner for Southampton. Ward-Prowse with the cross, but Delph heads it clear. Saints have seen more of the ball in these past 10 minutes, and City’s full-backs have been less influential.
35 min: De Bruyne, who is deceptively quick, beats Bertrand on the right flank, slightly scuffs his cross, Aguero dummies, and Sterling shoots, but Sterling’s shooting isn’t his forte, and it’s over the bar. That was a good opportunity.
34 min: Fonte has hobbled down the tunnel for treatment on a deep cut on his knee, as though someone had sliced their studs across it. No substitution, though, and Wanyama has slotted in at centre-back for the time being.
33 min: City fans wanted a penalty there as Fonte tangled with Aguero, but no whistle. City looking to exploit the space on the counter-attack. Now Long is down: he took a whack from the indelicate Otamendi, who seems to be channelling Daniel Passarella this afternoon.
29 min: This is a significant improvement from Southampton, and now Mane is fouled on the edge of the box in a shooting position. That’s a crude bodycheck from Otamendi, but no card. Roger East has been lenient so far.
27 min: Ward-Prowse with a great ball in, Caballero flapped, but then did really well to save the follow-up from Fonte, was it? Good save, but he might have done better with the initial punch.
26 min: This is better from Saints, but that opening 20 minutes or so was terrible. They just didn’t start! Bertrand does really well to take on Sagna and win the free-kick in a dangerous area on the left side.
